C O N F I D E N T I A L DAMASCUS 000389
SIPDIS
PARIS FOR WALLER, LONDON FOR TSOU
E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/04/2019
TAGS: PRELPHUMSCULSY
SUBJECT: ASSYRIAN ORTHODOX PATRIARCH CRITICIZES U.S. AT
INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE
REF: DAMASCUS 00375
Classified By: CDA Maura Connelly for reason 1.4 (b) and (d)
¶1. (U) SUMMARY: During the opening session of a two-day
international conference entitled "The Message of Peace in
Islam," the Assyrian Orthodox Patriarch Mar Zakka Ewas
attacked the U.S. for using the fight against "Islamic
terrorism" as a pretext for extending its hegemony in the
region. The Ministry of Religious Endowments, in cooperation
with the British Embassy, hosted the international conference
on June 1 and 2. The event brought together an international
cast of religious leaders, educators, diplomats, politicians,
and economic scholars, from the U.K., Egypt, Qatar, and Syria
to address topics of religious extremism, poverty, and human
rights. END SUMMARY
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The Assyrian Orthodox Attack
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¶2. (SBU) A priest in the Assyrian Orthodox Church delivered
the prepared speech of the Assyrian Orthodox Patriarch Mar
Zakka Ewas, who was unable to attend, before a packed
auditorium of more than 300 people. The Patriarch's speech
lambasted the U.S. for having manipulated the events of 9/11
for political gain. The U.S., he said, preferred the
"language of force" over the "language of diplomacy" in its
effort to "force its hegemony on the world and plunder the
world's resources."
¶3. (SBU) The speech blamed the U.S. for having failed both
to develop a cogent definition of "terrorism" and to
delineate between "terrorism" and "resistance," as the rest
of the international community had done. In fact, he argued,
the U.S. had used "Islamic terrorism" as a "Trojan horse to
attack any part of the world it wanted." Hoping to distance
the Christian church in Syria from its western counterparts,
the Patriarch called on Syrian Muslims to continue living in
harmony with their Christian brethren and to remember that
just as Islam did not equal terrorism, the West was not
exclusively representative of Christianity.
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Other Opening Remarks More Muted
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4. (SBU) Also featured at the opening session were British
Ambassador Simon Collis, Syrian Grand Mufti Dr. Ahmad Badr
Hassoun, Syrian Minister of Religious Endowments Dr. Muhammad
Abdel Sattar al-Sayed, and Dr. Muhammad Sa'id Ramadan
al-Butti, the Dean of the Faculty of Sharia' at Damascus
University. None of the aforementioned speakers made any
direct attacks on, or even obliquely referred to, the U.S.
Only al-Butti approached the hot-button issue of Islam's role
in politics, musing, "When political leadership is dominated
by religious control, I believe peace will dominate all over
the world." Al-Butti concluded his remarks by admonishing
his "brothers" in the audience to bring political life under
divine control.
¶5. (SBU) Both the Grand Mufti and Minister al-Sayed made
general reference to the importance of President Bashar
al-Asad's leadership, and particularly noted how his recent
speech at the Organization of Islamic Countries (OIC)
Conference held in Damascus on May 22 (reftel) had clearly
articulated the Syrian attitude towards regional peace and
Islam. Al-Sayed went so far as to say that Asad's OIC speech
was the "main axis of this conference." On the subject of
terrorism, al-Sayed referred to Asad's OIC axiom that
terrorism was not a security issue, but an intellectual one;
to fend off terrorism one must exercise "intellectual
security" in the face of any type of extremism.
¶6. (C) COMMENT: The SARG has long touted Syria's
environment of religious egalitarianism, pointing out that it
is one of the few Arab countries to have successfully
promoted the peaceful coexistence of different religious
groups under a secular government.
¶7. (C) COMMENT CONTINUED: The British have been seeking to
establish cooperation on counter-radicalization (of Muslims)
as a basis of their bilateral relationship. UK Ambassador
Collis, however, told Charge that the Assyrian Patriarch's
remarks had been unacceptable and that he (Collis) would
raise the matter with the Ministry. At no time during the
five opening speeches did the subject of tensions between
Sunni and Shi,a come up. This subject is widely perceived
by Syrians to be too risky for public debate in that it risks
one of the SARG's favorite reasons for jailing
activists--namely, the crime of "inciting sectarian strife."
As a result, the approach toward Islam by all the speakers
was generally monolithic and uncritical. END COMMENT
CONNELLY